A man picks up discarded receipts and makes up to £200 a month

A new trend has hit super market car parks. It's called wombling, which remembers those cute environmentally friendly children's characters from the 80's. They made use of other peoples rubbish and helped to tidy up the local environment. One who has taken on wombling in a big way is Stephen Auker, a 58 years old man who picks up shoppers discarded receipts and makes up to £200 a month by turning them into cash. Sound appealing? Auker searchers in windy corners of the car parks, looks under hedges and in supper market trollies to find receipts with money off coupons. Wombling is fueled by recent competition between super markets to give consumers the best deals. Many shops such as Asda or Morrisons give consumers money back in voucher form if their goods could have been purchased cheaper else where. Auker first started wombling back in 2010 when he picked up a piece of paper in an Asda car park. He soon realised that it was worth something and has been wombling ever since. The Asda price guarantee allows shoppers to go on line and check their receipt to see if their shopping would have been cheaper elsewhere. Auker checked the receipt he found and had made 38p, just for picking up some rubbish. If enough receipts are collected the money soon mounts up. Wombling gives Auker who is retired something positive to do with his time. He has a sense of achievement and pride in his local community as he is helping to tidy up. He has also been able to cut down on his weekly supermarket bills significantly. Many people now womble for a number of different reasons; weather it's financial hardship, tidying up or a bit of both. Some people also collect the receipts to raise money for local charities. The money collected could be used to buy food for a food bank or could be given to a homeless charity. However Wombling may not be for you if you are a busy person. Auker regularly spends up to seven hours in his local Asda car park; often waiting for receipts to blow towards him. He has recently set up a just giving page and gives a percentage of his earning to charity each month. He also has a facebook page with 5.000 followers where he gives tips on how to be a successful wombler and encourages other womblers to donate via his just giving page. Some of the hotspots that Womblers frequent are Tesco and sainsbury's car parks where they look for loyalty points for nectar and club card schemes. Farmfood's offer great discounts on their receipts and KFC has just launched a reward scheme where customers can get a free meal if they spend enough. There are however some rules of Wombling, it is illegal to look through bins so this is a no go area. It's also best not to ask people for their receipts but simply wait for them to be dropped or left in a basket or trolley.